Tag Archives for Western Australia

Nothing new here, Mayor Brad Pettitt seems to have his selective hearing on again/still; ignoring the point of view of some community leaders, choosing only to listen to the ones singing from Brads own Hymn sheet.

One thing you can be sure of these sorts of decision, the general public will be saved from any thought or stress as the mayor has made up your mind for you, anyway he knows best and is right, just ask him?

Standard MO from the Mayor, of course, having only have spoken to a few like minded individuals, of course Brad with his keen telepathic powers, knowing that the not so silent majority (this time) is complete instep with him. Bullsh!@!, sorry a bit of a cough. Clearly the majority of Fremantle residents are in Support of Brads latest whacky idea, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,NOT.

We see a week or so ago Roel criticizing the local Rate Payers and Residents Association for trying to get the government off its complaisant lazy ass and for it properly look into the dodgy, constantly changing so called business plan the city has for Kings Sq.

I wonder whats worse the rate payers asking the questions, or the city making a risky business decision and leaving the city 10’s of millions of dollars in Debt with a depleted revenue based portfolio as our current Mayor wants to sell off anything, his &^%$s haven’t leased out.

Anyway on the issue of Damaging Brand Freo, apart from council seemingly attempting to bankrupt the city, the Mayors latest debacle, his canceling of the Australian Day fireworks.

Whats Not Happening Australia Day 2017 with our present Freo council and mayor

While I’m not overly enthused with fireworks per-say , and they aren’t necessary to celebrate Australia Day. Its hardly surprising to see the community reaction. Many do take the chance to celebrate Australia Day its a great way for family’s to do an outdoor activity and when you go to the local parks to watch, you see what a great community we have in Freo, everyone coming together to celebrate our national day, in a happy, peaceful,respectful atmosphere.

Its great you don’t need to go to Fremantle centre and expose your young family to the anti-social types, Fremantle centre has become a magnet for, drunk’s druggies, the vandalism, the drug dealers, the violence and foul language which has just gotten out of control in the CBD, over the last decade or so.

So back to the question who is really damaging “BRAND FREMANTLE”, concerned community members, or a council, which has overseen;

The crash of retail

The exodus of jobs

The decline of business in general

The increase in Alcohol based events, its the one way our council drives people to the city, killing off its once family friendly reputation. Even simple events like meet the candidates, needs an open bar, I see co-run by the network, another council directed community group.

The decline of basic maintenance

The loss of Parking, a key ingredient to the success of any Australian retail/business precinct

The encouragement of graffiti vandalism by the COF/Mayor

Increase in anti-social behaviour

Increase in crime

Fremantle known as a top 10 worse suburbs for assaults in WA, nothing unusual to see this for freo, https://www.crimestopperswa.com.au/open-cases/assault-south-terrace-fremantle/

Etc.

Now we see worldwide, the laughing stock the mayor has made of Fremantle, with his attack on an Australian Day; a favoured celebration, the fireworks night; as he’s concerned its upsetting a small part of our community, but happily the mayor is willing to piss-off the majority to achieve nothing.

“The mayor of Fremantle has expressed his surprise that a decision to cancel the city’s Australia Day celebrations has become a nationwide debate.

Brad Pettitt said while plenty of people contacting him after yesterday’s decision were unhappy, he believed the majority of Fremantle residents backed the move.”

What a pile of crap the mayor believing the community would want this. Just showing how completely out of touch with reality he is. And Brad its not nationwide its gone international. Blogs are posting worldwide even with video of how bad this idea is.

Some make Australia great

some drag it downsome just celebrate how great it is

In his last election only approx 18%, of the community voted for him , so he’s entitled to say he speak for that minority group, he is clueless arrogant to what the majority want.
Whats next, canceling Christmas, Easter or blessing of the fleet, where will he’s attacks stop on Australian celebration days, in his need to appease a few minority at the expense of the broader community. Looking more and more like a need to have his face in the paper, is he that insecure?

These issues are political motivated by national and state politics, this well could be the thin edge of the wedge; as party politics has infested our local council like a cancer.

Council is about the amenity of the residents and ratepayers, not there for a select few to drive their personal party political agendas which have failed on a state and national level. This is why local councils like freo support groups, like 350, One planet, as they can not penetrate politics the way they like, at a larger level, especially where compulsory voting is in place, so they attack areas, like councils, where the general community takes little interest until it directly effects them, then being to late to stop. When continually ignored by the council its not surprising that they lose interest in participation.

Councils that are dominated by groups like this, rely on the complacency of the wider public to sneak their agendas in.

Great way to kill of tourism, people come to Australia to see Australia, not a washed out versions of its former self, as our council attempts to make whats great bland and uninteresting, in case it offends someone.

Apart from the mayor perhaps going his usual i chat to whom i knows agrees with me; I see no evidence on any community engagement from the council, with its rate payers and residents on this issue, clearly the Mayor Brad Pettitt, got it wrong again, as he does so often.

The City of Fremantle is committed to best practice community engagement and engages on a diverse range of issues and projects.

Community engagement is a way of acknowledging the skills, knowledge and passion contained within the citizens and stakeholders of the City and seeks to combine these with the skills, knowledge and passion of staff and elected members.”

Amazing how crowds can protest thru Fremantle for union day about the State Government selling our assets, where the very city there are protesting in, is going exactly the same thing they are protesting against, Barnett about. Makes it all look political not practical, the hordes of pollies doesn’t help the appearance.

This is sadly where common sense leaves the discussion and politics enters. Naturally the unions are anti -Barnett and lets face it, he does in my opinion some dumb shit. But here I can see the Fremantle council and our Mayor doing exactly the same sort of stuff that Barnett is going. Whats the difference? The politics.

But some, due to their political blinders, or blind hate of anything right of the labor party, clouds their common sense and sight form viewing whats right in front of them.

City of Fremantle has sold or is planning to sell the following assets

Point St Car park block

Bannister St Car park

Queens gate building

The Spicer site

Henderson st Car park

The Stan Reilly aged-care site.

Have all these sales, been put out for public tender? perhaps not.

Imagine the up roar if Barnett put the Freo port up for a private one vendor only choice lease, not even a sale but just a lease, the Freo uproar would be incredible.

Well that’s exactly what Freo council has done with one company for 3 separate assets in Fremantle, well not quite, Fremantle council is selling them at a cut rate, not just leasing them without any public tender. At least the port we get back in 50 or so years for our kids to benefit from. Fremantle Councils assets are straight up just selling our kids inheritance. Cue another council rate rise.

All in the name of profiteering, isn’t that another thing May Day addresses, use of public assets for private profit? Right here in Freo, no need to look to hard.

Now we see the council wanting to sell off the Stan Reilly site, and invest the money in the oval. Sounds good to a point. Will this investment make money and if so, for who??

Will it benefit the residents and rate payers or will it benefit the a select few event organizers who run festivals in Freo?

Do these festivals all pay for the public space they take to use for their own personal profits?

Or does the council give these public spaces for Free at rate payers expense??

Do they pay to fix and repair the damage their events do the public park space, they so happily fence off?

Or do the rate payers and residences cough up for that bill too?

For a Mayor who, likes to talk about transparency, you have to wonder where it actually is?

Do these events take over all the parking in town limiting whats left for the rest of the cities businesses to use? So what do you think this new car park is paid for by, the sale of rate payers assets, will it be for the benefits of the said residents or will this car park become the free VIP car park for events included in their ticket price for companies to increase their gate charge and up the profit margin?

So the May parade photos of protesters make me laugh they are so one eyed they can’t see the Green and ALP dominated council is doing exactly the same thing and most of these locals who would march are the one who would support the council.

So are they mad that the assets are being sold or is it just who’s selling them that is a problem?

The Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) has engaged in the most impressive Internet of Things (IoT) projects that the logistics industry has seen. And their work is not yet done. Sascha Westermann, the Head of ITS and Intermodal Traffic Management, spoke at SAPinsider on March 21st about HPA’s progress to date and […]

No surprise that commentators, comments actually disagree with the point they are trying to make. Stating that modern ports don’t need to be as large as they used to be contridict the point they make later about having to built a new port to cater for expansion.

Fremantle port can dispense allot more TEU’s than it does now, but it is restricted with its trucks movements as not to flood the local road network with trucks, jamming the entire local network making its decades out dated road network completely congested.

What the new port crowd will not tell is about ports that are completely residential locked and with no space to expand, are they moving as the anti-port crowd wants for Freo, of course not they are mechanizing, becoming more efficient and investing in technology and infrastructure , something that Fremantle council fights constantly against.

Here is a couple of quotes from Fobres magazine April 2016 on the 2nd busiest container port in Europe with over 40,000 TRUCK movements a day. Europe use trucks for port and container movements, you wouldn’t believe it with all the anti-truck & car crap you hear from a select elite self appointed few in Fremantle.

“The Port of Hamburg is the second busiest container port in Europe, and is a key trade lane connecting Eastern Europe to Germany and the rest of the world. The HPA is in charge of providing efficient infrastructure in the port area: managing the real estate; making sure quay walls, bridges, wharves and other waterfront structures are maintained, maintaining 140 kilometers of roads and 130 bridges within the port area, and managing the traffic,

Over 9 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) are transported through the port every year, and this is forecast to double by 2025. But the Hamburg Port is located in an urban area and they cannot increase the size of the port to handle increased traffic. To handle shipments efficiently, the HPA must operate smarter. Better traffic management also helps to minimize pollution. The port and city are impacted by up to 40,000 truck trips daily and no one wants those trucks spending a high amount of time idling.”

European port can you believe, the statistics, nothing like the BS we here from the anti establishment crowd, completely distorting the facts on what is going on overseas to suit their own personal and political agendas.

So the second biggest port in the EU.

140kms of Roads

130 bridges

Tunnels (can’t do that in Freo the world may end our suburb may fall into it. Strangely the rest of the worlds cities, have networks of tunnels under them, Freo we prefer, folklore over fact and evil tunnel stories to scare our kids with.)

Traffic management, not anti car as Freo council but management.

9,000,000 TEUs movements, compared to Freo’s 700,000 a year, whats the difference, roads, tunnels, bridges, thousands of trucks infrastructure not quite the story painted by Freo’s anti car and truck political elite.

40,000 truck visits a day, WHAT trucks in Europe ins’t it all on rail, powered by wind and solar power, you mean they use trucks running on diesel in the middle of residential area with a population of 1,700,000 people not quite the same as freo’s 30,000 is it.

Never let the facts get in the way of a bullshit story.

Fremantle Hacked, Don’t drink the coolaid Freo your getting a con j ob story from a few designed to scare the mass for their ideological purpose.

Oh and for container ships the draft is only one issue for efficient loading we need cranes that can get out to width of the vessel the draft is less important as thats more about harbour depth and dredging.

Its amazing how just one new crane in Freo about 2103 significantly increased the efficiency of Freo port operations. Imagine what 4 would do?

So why do we need a new port which would need the same new cranes anyway, oh right, they hate roads etc, they will have to build twice as much road space to make their new harbour work, plus new break-yards, and have freight travel twice the distance, all in the name of efficiency and pollution reduction.

LOL. Where does the BS stop.

Oh and all that development still leaves freo for freight, trucks, trains, and passenger vehicles numbers worse off after they only invest in the new harbour.

Make sense, NO, right so “Dont Drink the Coolaid”, its all they are selling.

ut even as Tesla’s batteries promise to reduce tailpipe emissions, more direct environmental concerns surround the current boom in lithium-ion batteries. As hundreds of thousands more of these batteries hit the market, the problems that come with lithium mining, battery lifecycles and recycling loom large.

In a 2013 report, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Design for the Environment program concluded that batteries using nickel and cobalt, like lithium-ion batteries, have the “highest potential for environmental impacts”. It cited negative consequences like mining, global warming, environmental pollution and human health impacts.

Aplace where Western Countries abuse 3rd world countries to develop, mine and process toxic products to give themselves a green image.

Weiss’ research focuses on trace gases like nitrogen trifluoride, or NF3, a greenhouse gas 17,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide. NF3 is commonly used in the manufacture of electronics and some solar panels. The gas is confined but a fraction often escapes during the process. In October, Weiss and other scientists found NF3 levels were increasing at 11 percent each year, although the cause is unclear. Production of some other panels involves another gas called sulfur hexafluoride — the most potent greenhouse gas known to science.

There is a darker side to owning an electric car, and it has everything to do with where you live, drive and, most importantly, charge your car. Certainly, an electric car motor does not run on gas, but the electricity used to charge the car does not appear from thin air, either. The electricity that powers homes, professional spaces, power lines and telecommunications structures comes from an electricity-generating power plants. These may run on everything from wind turbines to natural gas to fossil fuel, and the latter is the largest electricity source in the United States.

According to The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the environmental ramifications of EVs from well to wheel are significant. The study took into account all factors along the lifecycle of an electric vehicle, from the toxic battery ingredients like nickel and copper to the energy sources which power the grids that ultimately charge the cars’ batteries. “The global warming potential from electric vehicle production is about twice that of conventional vehicles,” one part of the study concludes, indicating that energy developed from lignite, coal, or heavy oil combustion makes it “counterproductive to promote electric vehicles.”

Its not quite as simple as our Mayor in Fremantle makes out, generally his electrics cars bring some good measure of Carbon + to our country while leaving toxic waste lands in 3rd world countries.